The Festival of Four
by SuperKat
Summary: Six years after his health starts to fail, Avatar Aang has a vision of a woman in the Water Tribe. He knows what it means, but he isn't ready. One-shot.


**DISCLAIMER: **Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar: The Legend of Korra, and everything associated with them belong to Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, Nickelodeon, and probably some other people who aren't me.

**SPOILERS**: Everything, including commentary, through The Legend of Korra Season One.

**SUMMARY:** Six years after his health starts to fail, Avatar Aang has a vision of a woman in the Water Tribe. He knows what it means, but he isn't ready.

* * *

He dreams about the cold again. The deep, bone-splintering cold that fills his insides and makes him heavy, immovable. Aang is used to this dream by now, wearily accepting that it will stay with him through his waking hours, but this time as it grips him, pulls him, inhabits him, he feels his first pang of fear in a long time. He thought he had accepted this, that he had done everything he could to prepare. He was wrong. This is wrong. He is not ready. He is oozing out of his own skin as someone looks at him with glowing white eyes. He is not ready.

_I need to know_, he thinks. _I need to know they're okay_. White light flashes and he finds himself in a small, round room he's never seen before. The flickering orange light of a fire dances over a rough dirt floor. Wood carvings hang on the walls, fading in and out of view with the rhythm of a heartbeat. He's not ready.

_Please. One more day. Just one more day. Please_. He is begging. He is not sure to whom.

A woman in a blue parka is stirring something in a cast-iron pot. Her hands are small and thin. Her hair hangs in two braids and she is very pregnant. She lifts a spoonful of broth out of the pot, smells it, smiles.

He opens his eyes and he's alone in his bed. Morning light spills over his face and arms but does not touch him. Voices are whispering. He is not sure if they are whispering to him.

.************.

His arms and neck feel stiff and cold, his muscles exhausted and listless as if he's put on a heavy suit or someone else's body. It takes him several minutes to sit up and swing his legs over the side of the bed.

There are footsteps in the hall, followed by a knock on the door. Tenzin steps into the room, looking tentative and uncomfortable. Aang wonders where he gets that from.

"I," says Tenzin, pressing his fingertips together, his gaze shifting, "I was wondering if you could, I mean if you wanted…I could, do you…"

"I'm alright," Aang says, "just slow." He scans the room for his walking stick, crafted by Toph in one of her more artistic metalbending accomplishments. He spots it next to the door and tries to summon it with airbending. It misses his hand and clatters to the floor with a sound that startles him. Only now does he realize his hands are trembling.

"Father," says Tenzin, stooping to pick it up, "we don't have to go to the pavilion today. We could…"

"No." He asked for this day and he will not waste it in bed. "I'll be alright." He grips the walking stick, looks down. There is an uncomfortable silence. He closes his eyes.

"Will you bring the chair?" he asks, quiet and ashamed.

"Yes," says Tenzin, nearly tripping himself in his haste. "Of course."

It is no secret how much Aang hates the wheelchair. He takes personal pride in the fact that it has spent more time collecting dust in the bedroom than anything else. Today, considering effort it takes to get into the chair, even with Tenzin's help, he knows he doesn't have much of a choice.

"Are you in any pain?" Tenzin asks. He shakes his head.

It's a beautiful day, cloudless and bright. He imagines it must be warm but can't feel the sun even as Tenzin pushes him across the plaza. He is grateful that the island is mostly deserted today.

"This will be perfect for the festival," he says. Tenzin agrees. "Are you going to go?"

Silence for a moment. "I'm not sure."

"You should," says Aang with conviction. "You never think you'll enjoy it, but you always do. And anyway," he tries to keep his tone light, "if neither of us go, it'll be the Festival of Three, and that doesn't have the same ring to it."

"Most of the acolytes will be there," says Tenzin. Aang tries to look at him, tries to smile and show Tenzin he's not serious, but his shoulders and neck are stiff and cold and they've nearly reached the pavilion anyway.

Even leaning on Tenzin and using the walking stick, the climb up the pavilion steps takes so much energy, that Aang's not sure he can sit on his own once they reach the top. Tenzin sets him down next to the wall, where he can lean back and listen to the waves on the rocks far below.

Tenzin sits across from him. In unison, they close their eyes and inhale.

Almost instantly, Aang sees the woman again. She and a man nearly twice her size are watching the sun rise over the snow-covered tundra. She flinches, a moment almost too quick to catch, and touches her stomach. The man turns his head, asks her something. She smiles and shakes her head no. The vision fades.

_I understand._

He opens his eyes.

"Do you remember," he says when Tenzin does the same, "the morning when you were little, when a scorpion wasp flew into your and Bumi's room?"

"I," Tenzin frowns, furrowing his brow, "I'm not sure."

"You were about six. You were upset because the day before, your brother had dropped a fruit pie on your head while you were trying to show the acolytes your bending." The color of Tenzin's cheeks tells Aang that he does remember. "I woke up to the sound of you whispering, so I went to check on you. I was certain you were plotting revenge.

"I opened your door a crack, and I found you standing in the middle of the room. Bumi was sound asleep, and you were holding a scorpion wasp with an airball. You didn't see me.

"For a moment I worried you were going to use it to get back at your brother." It's something they don't often talk about, Bumi's childhood phobia. Even as an adult, Aang catches him flinching whenever one is nearby. "I was ready to stop you, but you quietly guided the scorpion wasp to the window and set it free. You shut the window, went back to bed and never said a word about it.

"Later that day, you used airbending to cover Bumi with fruit pies as he was sparring with Uncle Sokka. He chased you, caught you, pinned you to the ground, and threatened you with Kya until you repented. Do you remember this?" Tenzin nods. Aang reaches out to grip his son's shoulder.

"The choices you make," he says, "are the right ones. You know that they are. And more importantly, you know when they aren't."

There is silence. Tenzin's face, ears and top of his head have flushed. He is frowning at his feet. After a long moment, the color fades and he takes a slow breath.

.***********.

Bumi meets them as Tenzin is helping Aang back into the chair. There's a silent exchange between the brothers that Aang assumes he is not supposed to see. Tenzin grips his father's shoulder and leaves for the dining hall.

"You hungry?" Bumi asks him. Aang shakes his head. He is surprised but relieved when his elder son doesn't force the issue.

"Why aren't _you_ at the festival?" he asks. Bumi grins. Aang furrows his brow in mock-seriousness. "Didn't the United Forces give you time off just so you could attend the Festival of Four?"

"The United Forces," says Bumi, "gave me time off because my dad invented the holiday. What I do with my time is my business."

Aang is not sure he believes that. "If you want to be there…"

"Actually," says Bumi, "the ice dodging competition just started on the bay. I thought you might want to come down to the dock and see it."

It feels humiliating, watching from a distance the celebrations he founded but cannot attend, but something in Bumi's expression is so hopeful that he agrees to it anyway. As they pass through the open courtyard, they pass an acolyte carrying something wrapped in white cloth. Aang looks away, not sure if it helps or makes it worse that people aren't reacting to the sight of him in a wheelchair.

He is starting to feel the sun on his face, distantly, as though in a dream. He imagines that it feels warm. A scorpion wasp flies by and he hears Bumi's sharp intake of breath.

The morning's first ice dodging competitions are well underway when they reach the docks. Most of the boats are too far away to see clearly, small wooden vessels with blue and purple sails, weaving and bobbing between bender-made ice caps on water that is far too turbulent for this weather. He catches sight of the waterbenders on the docks, tiny figures in blue on the edge of the cheering crowd.

Aang remembers the first year Bumi took part in this competition. Sokka and Kya nearly screamed themselves hoarse, while Katara spent most of the competition covering her eyes or looking away. Watching Bumi ride the wind and waves with a wild gleam in his eye, Aang felt a combination of fierce pride and abject terror known only in parenthood. Even though Bumi lost in the final round, Katara took him aside afterward and gave him the mark of the brave. He won the next four years in a row.

"Do you miss doing this?" Aang asks. Bumi shrugs and shakes his head.

"Nah. It's just a bunch of kids now. I'd feel old."

Aang smiles wryly. "I wonder how that would feel." Bumi throws his head back and laughs, a deep booming sound that never fails to make Aang smile.

A bison flies over them, laden with people he can't see, landing on the upper portion of the island. Aang frowns, but Bumi shrugs it off.

They groan and laugh together as boats tip and catch and occasionally splinter. Aang catches sight of the hot air balloons hovering over the northern end of the city. He smiles, remembering the first years of the festival when he used to take his glider and circle between them, chatting with festival-goers and their awestruck children while Momo leapt from basket to basket.

It's a long time before he realizes that Bumi is gripping his shoulder. There's a look on his son's face that Aang hasn't seen since he was little, something vulnerable, frightened. Without a word, Aang reaches up and grasps his hand and they stay that way for most of the morning.

.**********.

There are footsteps on the dock. Bumi turns, but Aang keeps his gaze on the city, absorbing it.

"Are they ready?" Bumi asks.

"Just about." Kya's voice. Aang looks over his shoulder, startled. Kya loves the Festival of Four more than anyone.

"You're back early," he says. She exchanges smiles with Bumi.

"We're just about to have lunch," she says, "and we thought you'd like to join us."

Aang isn't hungry. He doesn't suspect that he will be any time soon, but something in her expression is gleeful, like she's hiding something. Aang wonders what she's done this time. They push him up the hill in silence, as the faint sounds of cheering rise and fall behind them. Aang is startled to see that the courtyard is more crowded than it was a few hours ago. They reach the dining hall and he gasps.

Paper lanterns of all colors hang from the ceiling in long garlands, with cloth banners over the doors and windows. He sees red and black, green and gold, light and dark blue, soft blue and yellow. The tables have been pushed together, creating a large square with an open space in the center. One edge is almost against the far wall; extra cushions have been placed there and he guesses that's where they're taking him.

"What do you think?" Kya asks.

He can't speak. Bumi brings the chair across the room and Kya helps him onto the cushions, shifting them so he can lean comfortably against the wall. She settles herself by his side, grips his hand and grins as Bumi, Tenzin, Katara and a few air acolytes emerge from the kitchen with plates of food, followed by the Beifongs, Sokka, Suki, and Zuko. There is shouting and waving and laughter. Aang gapes.

"We know how much the festival means to you," says Kya. "So we brought it here."

His throat is tight and his eyes are stinging. He squeezes his daughter's hand and manages a "thank you." He can't say anything to the group yet, is afraid he'll break down if he tries, but they seem to understand.

.*********.

"Twinkletoes!" Toph shouts as people settle themselves around the table, "I know you're in here."

"Here," says Aang.

"You people and your wood floors," she mutters, summoning Aang's walking stick to her open hand. She raps it on the floor, hard, grips it with both hands, concentrates. "You look terrible."

Aang smiles. "Good to see you too."

"And there's that deadbeat son of yours," she says. Lin finds an empty seat, her expression as hard as stone. Bumi laughs loudly and slings an arm over Tenzin's shoulders. Tenzin looks like he wants to melt into the floor.

"We thought it would be better if Pema didn't come," Kya whispers in Aang's ear. Toph, who clearly heard, is about to reply when Katara starts forcibly guiding her to an empty seat.

"Be nice," she says.

Toph sighs loudly. "Whatever."

.********.

The meal lasts a long time. Aang forces bites of everything that doesn't have meat, as a thank you if nothing else, and contents himself with watching and listening.

Sokka balances a sea prune on his upper lip and makes fun of the councilman from the Fire Nation. His voice sounds nothing like the man he's impersonating, yet suspiciously similar to his 'Wang Fire' voice. Most of the table laughs. Aang starts to laugh, but stops himself before it can turn into a cough. Zuko is looking at him. Aang does not meet his eye.

Toph tells a story about a pair of criminals who tried to outsmart the police force by using magnets as weapons.

"I didn't even have to bend," she says as the table roars, "they just flew out of the kid's hands and stuck to my armor. I thought he was going to pee himself."

Zuko pours everyone tea and tells them about his grandson. It turns out little Iroh has discovered firebending.

"That's why they're not here today," he tells Aang, passing him a steaming cup. "It's dangerous at this age, one badly-timed sneeze and…" He trails off, shaking his head.

"That's worse than Tenzin," says Katara. She smiles at Aang and asks, "Do you remember the incident at Omashu?" The table laughs as Tenzin flushes again.

"Mother," he says, "please."

"I do," says Kya.

The conversation descends into chaos and back again. Zuko tells a joke that's funny. Sokka tries to explain the concept of electricity using pieces of fruit. Toph steals an apple from his display and eats it. They goad each other, talk over each other, argue, laugh, exchange more stories. Aang leans back against the cushions, smiling as Katara takes his hand in her own and squeezes it gently.

.*******.

It is well into the afternoon when they start to clear the table. Aang hates that he can't help, hates that no one expects him to. But it isn't long before Zuko is back, sitting by his side.

"There's too many people in there," he tells Aang. "And I…didn't know what to do."

Aang smiles. They sit in comfortable silence.

"You're going soon, aren't you?" says Zuko. Aang looks at his old friend in shock, but Zuko refuses to meet his gaze. From this angle, his scar seems to take up his whole face.

"Yeah," says Aang, strangely relieved to say it aloud. "How did you know?"

"It's the way you were watching everyone," says Zuko. "Like you're trying to take as much in as you can. That's what Uncle did in his last days."

Aang sighs. "It helps, knowing they're going to be okay. I'm sure your uncle felt that too, about you."

Zuko shakes his head. "I'm going to retire," he says.

"What?"

Zuko rests his head against the wall behind them. "Even after all these years, I don't trust myself to always see the right path. It's been hard enough without Uncle, but without you…" He shakes his head. "Maybe I could do it, but I value my people too much to risk trying."

Aang shakes his head and sips his tea. "Zuko," he says, "look at me." Zuko meets his eyes for the first time. His expression is similar to Bumi's. "You haven't needed me or your Uncle for a long time. You just haven't realized it. When was the last time you asked me for anything?" Zuko frowns. "You don't need the safety net anymore, Zuko."

Zuko tilts his cup, studying the mesh of tea leaves at the bottom. "But what if, after all these years, I still make a huge mistake?"

"I'll send you a message from the spirit world," says Aang with a small smile. "I'll knock a painting off the wall." He considers this for a moment. "Actually, maybe I'll do that anyway, just to see the look on your face."

"You would," says Zuko.

They both laugh. Aang does cough this time, painfully. He sips some water, and before Zuko can say anything, people start emerging from the kitchen, carrying cakes and deserts. Tenzin is last, with a tray of fruit pies. Aang catches his eye and smiles.

.******.

Tenzin and Bumi play airball in the plaza. Tenzin wins, but barely. Aang can tell by the twitch above his eyebrow that he had expected to win by more. Toph, who can't see a game on wooden posts, amuses herself by metalbending part of her police wire into the shape of a beetle, and making the lemurs chase it.

They hold a probending match. Sokka claims the title of referee with an enthusiasm that reminds Aang of their early days. Toph, Katara and Zuko line up against Kya, Lin and Bumi. Kya gives her brother a puzzled look.

"Do you… firebend, now?" she asks.

"Don't need to," says Bumi, drawing his boomerang with a grin.

"You can't throw a boomerang in a pro-bending match!" Zuko shouts. Katara looks at him, surprised and amused.

"Humble apologies, your Flaminess," says Bumi, bowing deeply. Zuko throws Aang a glare that says _that could only have come from you. _ "Would you rather I set it on fire before I throw it?"

"No!" Zuko and Sokka shout at the same time.

"Well then," says Bumi, "let the game begin."

Sokka whistles through his thumb and first finger, a trick Aang remembers him taking years to perfect. Tenzin sits on the steps and tries to pretend he's not interested.

Aang isn't deeply familiar with the rules of probending, but even ignoring the boomerang, he's pretty sure he counts four fouls in the first few minutes. Sokka seems too busy screaming cheers – it's difficult to tell whose side he's on – to call any of them. It's easy to see the fifteen-year-old and forget the charismatic councilman at times like this. Aang is glad that, as much as Sokka has changed in all these years, he never grew out of his wild, unapologetic enthusiasm for things that make him happy.

Several minutes into the game, Zuko is dodging a water whip when boomerang catches him in the back of the head. Aang laughs aloud, remembering the first time they met, all those years ago. Zuko rubs his head and glares again, clearly remembering it too.

"If you'd feel more comfortable facing a firebender," Aang suggests, "we could contact the Fire Nation and have them send Iroh."

Suki laughs. Zuko grumbles. The game falls into chaos so quickly that no one is really sure who wins. As they move back inside, Toph and Lin bicker ("It's _metal_. _Metal_ is _earth._" "It still doesn't count!") while the rest reminisce about the first time Team Avatar gave pro-bending a try.

"It was, what do the kids say these days? Epic," says Sokka. "Aang, versus Katara, Toph and Zuko. The Avatar against his bending masters."

"I think I was there," says Kya, who is pushing the wheelchair. "Didn't dad cheat?"

"I did not _cheat_," says Aang haughtily. Katara hides laughter behind her hand. "I just…forgot I wasn't allowed to airbend. Anyway, it wasn't even an official sport back then, so there weren't official rules to cheat _from_." He ignores Kya and Katara's exchange of smiles.

.*****.

Suki and Kya turn the dining hall into a dance floor, with an air acolyte playing a Pipa and Zuko on the Tsungi horn. Soon everyone except the Beifongs and Aang are dancing. Aang suspects that Tenzin is only out there to avoid being left alone with Lin and her mother.

Kya and Bumi are excellent dancers. Aang watches them, remembering the dance with Katara all those years ago. He wonders how the students at that school got on after he left, if things ever got better for them. He wonders how this new world will fare for sixteen years without an avatar.

Toph is sitting back, sipping a drink, her feet propped up on a cushion. Lin is sitting nearer to Aang, her arms folded, looking down. She catches Aang watching her.

"I don't dance," she says. Aang smiles.

"I wasn't going to suggest that you should. I was going to say thank you for coming. It means a lot to me that you're here, and I know it can't have been easy."

Lin shrugs. "It beats being on duty in the city," she says.

"I'm sure," says Aang. "At least here, you won't have to deal with any drunk firebenders." He pauses. "Except maybe Bumi, apparently," he adds as an afterthought. Lin does laugh at that. It feels like a breakthrough. They chat for a few minutes, and it feels warm, familiar. He had missed her.

They fall silent after a while. Sokka is twirling Suki as Katara pushes tables out of their way. The sunlight light starts to dim, and Zuko lights the lanterns with hardly a pause in the music. Kya and Bumi are teasing Tenzin again; Aang can tell because the back of his youngest son's head is bright red.

"We are so blessed," Aang says to Lin, "by the people around us. We don't always feel that way, but we are."

Lin nods.

Sokka and Katara are doing what looks like the Dancing Dragon, horribly, intentionally wrong. Zuko scowls over the tsungi horn but doesn't stop playing. Aang wonders how long it will take him to lose his temper. Kya is doing a water dance – it's the hippiest thing Aang has ever seen in his life – and Bumi is dancing with a female acolyte. Aang smiles. For the first time in years, he feels warm. Wherever he's going, he will take this with him and that is enough.

"Blessed," he whispers. When no one is looking, he takes the bison whistle from his pocket. It is rusted and cracked with age but still functional. He blows it.

.****.

The sun sets. Someone mentions the fireworks and the music stops. Chairs are scraping, people are getting ready to go outside.

Toph summons the wheelchair with metalbending. She and Lin are ready to help Aang into it, but he shakes his head. "Not this time." Toph looks ready to protest, but before she can, there's a hush and Sokka pokes his head through the front door.

"Um…" he says, gesturing behind him. "Appa's here."

.***.

Toph and Katara help him walk outside. Appa, laying down in the middle of the courtyard, looks him with a weary eye. His fur is matted and gray. A message passes between them.

Even from the upper part of the island, the view of the city is spectacular at night. He can hear the dull murmur of the crowd across the water. Toph and Katara set him down so he can rest against Appa's fur.

"It's beautiful," Katara whispers.

"Eh," Toph shrugs, "I've seen better." Aang and Katara laugh. His breath catches in his chest and he is coughing again, gasping. It is blindingly painful. When he regains control, tears are in his eyes and Appa is looking at him. He smiles.

"Look at us," he says. "Eh, buddy?" Appa grunts and puts his head back down.

People are laying out blankets to sit on. Sokka is passing around a bowl of fireflakes. Bumi throws himself on the same blanket as Tenzin, much to his younger brother's dismay. Toph chooses to keep herself on solid earth. Lin sits on a blanket as far from Tenzin as possible; Suki and Zuko settle themselves between them without a word. Kya brings a blanket to her father and places it over him.

"Thank you," Aang whispers, gripping her hands. "For everything. This is perfect." He hugs her close, strokes the back of her head the way he did when she was small.

"Everything you do in life is incredible," he whispers. "Remember that I have always known that." She draws back to look at him. Tears are starting to well in her eyes.

"Be nice to your brothers," Aang adds. She laughs.

As Kya is making Bumi and Tenzin make room on their blanket, Toph sits down next to Aang, her clouded eyes glaring resolutely at the city she cannot see. Aang is surprised to see her crying too, but after a moment it hits him that she will have known as soon as his feet touched the rock of the plaza. He doesn't know what to say.

"Fireflakes, anyone?"

Toph scowls and looks away. Sokka looks like he's about to ask what her problem is, but glances from her to Aang and back again. His face falls.

"I," he says, "I didn't know. I just thought…" He spends a moment looking around, as if not sure what to do. Aang shakes his head and beckons for Sokka to come closer. Sokka crouches. Aang looks between him and Toph.

"Thank you," he says, because he doesn't have the words to express what he wants to say but he knows they'll understand anyway. They and Katara hug him together as the first firework bursts overhead and the murmur of the crowd in the city turns into a roar.

.**.

Sokka sits down. Toph goes to Lin and, in a rare show of affection for the Beifong family, wraps her arm around her daughter's shoulders. Another firework lights up their faces in a flash of bright blue. Katara kneels by Aang's side, stroking his forehead. The light from the next firework catches a tear on her cheek.

"Hi," Aang whispers.

"Hi."

"This was wonderful," he says, "thank you." He wants to say more but his muscles are heavy and he's finding it hard to draw breath. Katara wraps her arms around him. They watch the fireworks in silence. When the finale hits, Aang's children cheer and he closes his eyes, smiling. Something is pulling at him and voices are whispering. He is ready.

.*.

The water tribe woman is lying on a fur-lined bed, sweating and panting as the sound of a screaming newborn fills the room. The air is surprisingly warm.

Healer women tend to the infant, who lets out a string of ear-splitting shrieks. A younger healer cringes.

"Is something wrong?" the woman asks.

"No, no," says the oldest. "She's perfectly healthy and strong. Just announcing her presence."

Aang feels the urge to laugh. The healers help the woman sit up before placing the crying infant in her arms. The woman coos to her and eventually, the child opens her eyes for a split second between screams. Her eyes are a sparkling, crystal blue.

"She'll be a powerful bender one day," says one of the healers. Aang does laugh at this. The child opens her eyes again; Aang would swear she's looking right at him, her eyes wide and round. For a moment, she stops crying.


End file.
